Friday, February 28, 2014

OFF THE WIRE
POLICE have seized a Rebels outlaw bikie’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle after he was caught allegedly doing a burnout in Goulburn.Goulburn
Highway Patrol spotted the 36-year-old man riding along Clinton St and
wearing full Rebels colours about 2:15pm yesterday (Thursday), police
say.

He was seen weaving in between stationary traffic before stopping at a set of lights.

When the lights turned green, the rider allegedly did a 10m burnoutOfficers stopped the rider and he was handed a court attendance notice for aggravated burnout.

The bikie will face Goulburn Local Court next month.

Police also seized the man’s Harley-Davidson under Section 239 of the Road Transport Act.The motorcycle was taken to Goulburn Police Station where it will be impounded for three months.

Popular Mechanics magazine has named Ride for Kids one of 2014’s best motorcycle charity rides.

The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation’s heritage fundraising event makes the list with five other rides: the Trail of Tears Remembrance Motorcycle Ride, the Rolling Thunder Ride for Freedom, the Tour of Honor, the Mayor's Ride and the Legends Ride.

“This is such a great honor for the Ride for Kids program. It speaks volumes to the dedication of our volunteers and staff who work so hard to make sure our events are safe, fun and family friendly,” said Ride for Kids Director Debra Abney Barnes.

In 2014, Ride for Kids will offer 37 events from coast to coast. There is no cost to ride, but motorcyclists are encouraged to make donations and raise funds to help find a cure for one of the deadliest forms of childhood cancer.

ABOUT RIDE FOR KIDSIn 2014, Ride for Kids is celebrating its 31st year of raising awareness and funds for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, a national voluntary health nonprofit. More than 28,000 children in the United States are living with the diagnosis of a brain tumor, and 13 more cases are identified each day. Motorcyclists have helped the PBTF become the world's largest non-governmental source of funding for childhood brain tumor research. Our programs also include free educational resources and special events for brain tumor survivors and their families. American Honda is the presenting sponsor of Ride for Kids. Other supporters include GEICO and Cycle World magazine. Register online at www.rideforkids.org or call 800-253-6530 to learn more.

OFF THE WIRErt.com
February 27, 2014
The US Supreme Court has ruled that police may search a home without
obtaining a warrant despite the objection of one occupant if that
occupant has been removed from the premises.
With its 6 to 3 decision in Fernandez v. California on
Tuesday, the Court sided with law enforcement’s ability to conduct
warrantless searches after restricting police powers with its 2006
decision on a similar case.
In 2009, the Los Angeles Police Department sought suspect Walter
Fernandez, believed to have stabbed someone in a violent gang robbery.
When police first arrived at the suspect’s home, they heard yelling and
screaming before Fernandez’s live-in girlfriend Roxanne Rojas answered
the door, appearing “freshly bruised and bloody,” and with an infant in hand, according to argument recap by SCOTUSblog.
Fernandez was spotted by police, and said, “Get out. I know my rights. You can’t come in.”
Yet police arrested him on charges of domestic violence. Later, once
Fernandez was out of the home, police asked Rojas for permission to
conduct a search, which yielded evidence implicating Fernandez in the
robbery.
The Court’s decision justified the police actions, with Justice Samuel Alito writing the majority’s position.“A warrantless consent search is reasonable and thus consistent
with the Fourth Amendment irrespective of the availability of a
warrant,” Alito wrote. He added that “denying someone in Rojas’
position the right to allow the police to enter her home would also
show disrespect for her independence.”
Alito was joined in the majority by Justices Breyer, Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, and Thomas.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg – joined in the minority by Justices
Kagan and Sotomayor, marking a gender divide among the Justices in the
case – wrote the dissenting opinion, calling the decision a blow to the
Fourth Amendment, which prohibits “unreasonable searches and seizures.”“Instead of adhering to the warrant requirement,” Ginsburg wrote, “today’s decision tells the police they may dodge it, nevermind ample time to secure the approval of a neutral magistrate.” Tuesday’s ruling, she added, “shrinks to petite size our holding in Georgia v. Randolph.”Georgia v. Randolph was a similar case the Supreme Court
addressed in 2006, in which a domestic violence suspect would not allow
police to enter his home, though his wife did offer police consent. The
police ultimately entered the home. The Court ruled in the case that the
man’s refusal while being present in the home should have kept
authorizes from entering.“A physically present inhabitant’s express refusal of consent to a
police search [of his home] is dispositive as to him, regardless of the
consent of a fellow occupant,” the majority ruled in that case.
In addressing Randolph in the majority opinion, Alito wrote that the difference between that case and Fernandez was the physical presence of the suspect.“Our opinion in Randolph took great pains to emphasize that its
holding was limited to situations in which the objecting occupant is
physically present,” he wrote. “We therefore refuse to extend
Randolph to the very different situation in this case, where consent was
provided by an abused woman well after her male partner had been
removed from the apartment they shared.”
Prior to Randolph and Fernandez, the Court ruled in the 1974 case United States v. Matlock that any one of the co-tenants in a home can consent to a police search of the premises.

OFF THE WIREByTop Right Newsby Gina Cassini | Top Right News
Two days, two cops gone wild on a citizen filming police activity. Unlike that woman in Florida
we detailed yesterday — no one got arrested or seriously hurt. But the
altercation was very disturbing as police nationwide continue to harass
Americans exercising their 1st Amendment rights.
A man videotaping Baltimore County police as they arrested two people was approached by at least two different officers and not only angrily threatened with arrest, but told he had no rights.
The man asked the officers several times what he was doing wrong. When
he tried to remind them “I have my rights,” things quickly went
downhill, with one angry cop responding: “You just lost them.”WATCH:

The man was not arrested, but likely only because he backed down in the face of angry physically-confrontational police
Baltimore County police officials told Top Right News that
they “recognize and respect” the rights of citizens to film officers on
duty in a public place, unless the person filming has violated a law or
statute, and that they are investigating the altercation.
Um yeah, you think?

Thursday, February 27, 2014

OFF THE WIRE
What the world needs now is, of course, another biker reality television show. Don’t cringe yet. This one might star you.
A producer named Emily Brookstein who works for a production company
in New York called Eastern TV is casting a new television program.
Eastern has previously produced must see television like Crazy Hearts Nashville, Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, When Robots Rule, Apocalypse Island and Cocaine: History Between The Lines. Obviously, if Bischoff-Hervey can get a biker show on the air anybody can.
The job of starring this as yet untitled show pays money. If you can
recommend someone for the lead part you can make some easy money, too.
The contact email is casting@eastern.tv. The casting notice might offer
you a little insight into how these television shows happen. Here it is.
Go for it.

Casting Notice

NOW CASTING MOTORCYCLE CLUB MEMBERS FOR MAJOR CABLE NETWORK
Are you a man with miles of hard road behind you, ready to ride toward a bold new horizon? Read on…
We’re looking for a family man who has spent years in loyal service
to his motorcycle club and wants to kickstart a new life starring in a
brave new series commissioned by a major cable network. If you’re an
outlaw with a heart of gold your greatest adventure might be about to
begin…by sending us an email.
If this isn’t you, but sounds like someone you know, and the network
selects them for the series, we will give YOU a $500 finders fee!

What it takes…
You need to be hard and uncompromising, with a personality big enough to fill the screen.
Your family is as important as you are. If you’ve got a little girl
you can’t say “no” to and a wife who knows exactly how to tell you “no,”
we’re off to a great start.
You need to be ready to put the outlaw years behind you and make a
new start at something totally different. It’s great if you know what
you want to do next, but if not, having the desire is enough: we can
help with the rest.

Next steps…
Write us an email telling us a bit about yourself. It doesn’t have to
be too long – a couple hundred words is perfect. If you have a picture
of yourself and your family you can attach that would be very helpful.
We are working on a tight deadline with this so you can expect a quick
response.
If you made it this far and you are having trouble imagining what
life would look like as the star of your own reality show just remember
what the Butthole Surfers said… “It’s better to regret something you
did, than something you didn’t do.” If you are our guy you’ll know what
this means.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
casting@eastern.tv

As part of the National Constitution Center’s 27 Amendments (In 27 Days)
project, each day we will look at a constitutional amendment. Through
partnerships with leading scholars and universities, government
agencies, media outlets, and more, the National Constitution Center will
profile one amendment each day throughout the month of February.

Full Text of the 22nd Amendment

Section 1. No person shall
be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no
person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for
more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected
President shall be elected to the office of the President more than
once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office
of President, when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall
not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or
acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes
operative from holding the office of President or acting as President
during the remainder of such term.

Section 2. This article
shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment
to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several
States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States
by the Congress.

Synopsis:

George Washington established the
custom of presidents serving no longer than two terms. Following
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s election to third and fourth terms, this
amendment set a future limit at two terms.

The highest ranking officers in the King City Police Department for years targeted the city's most vulnerable residents, essentially stealing their cars for profit, District Attorney Dean Flippo said Tuesday.

In what is likely the most widespread case of official corruption in Monterey County history, six King City police officers, including the former and acting chiefs of police, were arrested on felony charges on Tuesday, four of them accused of conspiracy, embezzlement and bribery. The owner of a local tow truck company, the brother of the acting chief, was arrested in the scheme, which involved impounding the cars of mostly unlicensed drivers, then selling them when the cars' owners were unable to pay towing and storage fees.

Prosecutor Steve Somers, who is handling the case, said he considered charging the officers with hate crimes because they targeted disadvantaged Latino residents. He concluded their actions targeted the victims because they were vulnerable, not out of racial animus.

After a six-month investigation by the District Attorney's Office, Sheriff's deputies, Salinas police and FBI agents fanned out in five teams to make simultaneous arrests shortly before 6 a.m. While each of the targets had been interviewed, Flippo said at an afternoon press conference, none had advance notice of the arrests. None resisted when confronted.

The arrested were:

Sgt. Bobby Javier Carillo, 44, of Soledad, who impounded hundreds of cars, allegedly earning a free car for every 10 to 15 he towed. He is charged with conspiracy, accepting a bribe and bribing an executive officer.

Acting Chief Bruce Miller, who allegedly received one of the cars from Carillo, knowing its source, is charged with accepting a bribe.

Brian Miller, the chief's brother and owner of Miller's Towing, charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and bribing an executive officer.

Former chief Dominic "Nick" Baldiviez, 49, of Bradley, who is charged with giving a city-owned car to officer Mario Alonso Mottu Sr. Both are charged with embezzlement by a public official.

Flippo said two other officers were charged with felonies discovered during the ongoing investigation that were unrelated to the bribery and embezzlement case. Officer Jaime Andrade, 36, of Soledad was charged with possession of an assault weapon and illegal storage of a firearm.

Officer Mark Allen Baker, 44, of Paso Robles, was charged with threatening violence on a local resident.

Each was booked into Monterey County Jail, where they posted bail ranging from $10,000 to $60,000. Sheriff Scott Miller said the officers were processed at the jail but never housed with the general population. The officers are on paid administrative leave.

ARRAIGNMENTS SET

They will be arraigned Monday and March 6 in Monterey County Superior Court. Each of the felony public corruption charges carries a maximum four-year prison sentence.

On a day when Santa Cruz was mourning the deaths of detectives Butch Baker and Elizabeth Butler one year ago, Flippo said it was a sad day for his investigators and the residents of King City to have uncovered such corruption among them.

"This is not a pleasant time for any of us in law enforcement, certainly not anyone in the District Attorney's Office," he said. "Any time you have violations -- of the (police) oath, that is difficult for us."

Chief Assistant District Attorney Terry Spitz said the office has already had to dismiss at least three criminal cases because of the lack of credibility of the accused officers. Every case they are involved with is being reviewed to determine if it can go forward without their testimony.

Flippo said King City residents long ago lost trust in their police department, which suffered from a lack of leadership for years.

Baldiviez was placed on leave after a public vote of no confidence in 2010. He later returned, but "retired" in September 2013 at the same time the District Attorney's Office was ratcheting up its investigation. At a press conference in King City on Tuesday, City Manager Michael Powers said Baldiviez was still on the city's payroll, being paid for overtime and compensatory time he accumulated and kept track of for 28 years.

Flippo said the investigation of the car scheme dated back six months, but his office's focus on allegations of wrongdoing in the department dated back four years, when the community started voicing its lack of trust in the department. In 2010, Flippo's investigators were looking into a rash of gang slayings in the city and kept coming across witnesses who were not gang-related but said they would not share with local police the evidence they had regarding the murders.

A town hall meeting where community members expressed outrage at the lack of progress in solving the gang crimes was videotaped and posted online by KSBW, Flippo said. His investigators started monitoring hundreds of comments posted to the video, some of which contained allegations that police were stealing impounded automobiles.

The district attorney said Miller's Towing is one of four tow-truck operations that is supposed to rotate impound calls for the King City Police Department. What his investigators found, Flippo said, was that Carrillo had impounded more than 200 vehicles from March 1, 2010 to Nov. 1, 2013 and 87 percent went to Miller's Towing.

Flippo's office worked closely with the Department of Motor Vehicles to track the changes of ownership of the towed cars to build their body of evidence. Because of the nature of the migrant community, his office has interviewed few of the victims so far and does not know if they were pulled over for legitimate reasons.

Ana Vargas, co-chairwoman of the South County Outreach Efforts and a King City resident, said community members have complained for months in front of the City Council about Miller's Towing and the outrageous rules they had to follow to recover their cars. She said Miller's required owners of impounded cars to keep them there for 30 days, with charges accruing. By the time drivers could pick up their cars, they owed $2,000 to $3,000.

"The cars were not even worth that much," Vargas said. Unable to pay, drivers would just abandon their autos.

NO INTERPRETER

About 30 residents showed up for the press conference by Powers and Mayor Robert Cullen. Many expressed shock at the allegations, others outrage. Barbara Martinez, 35, who has lived in the city for 10 years, complained that the city officials did not have an interpreter present to help explain criminal allegations that involved Spanish-speaking residents.

"I've always felt the Hispanic community didn't have a voice," she said.

Said lifelong King City resident Clayton Stephens, 35, "We've been paying these guys to do crooked work."

The immediate safety needs of the community were at the forefront of both press conferences on Tuesday.

The arrested officers represent 35 percent of the city's police force and most of its upper ranks. Flippo said several other officers are on stress or medical leave, leaving the force down 50 percent.

Miller, who spoke at Flippo's press conference, said he offered his office's services to King City, at least on a temporary basis. Powers and Cullen said they plan to take him up on the offer. At least through Wednesday, 31-year King City veteran Sgt. Alejandra "Alex" Tirado will serve as acting chief of police.

Cullen announced there will be a community forum the week of March 17 to allow residents to ask questions and vent their frustrations. The date, time and locations will be announced in the near future.

Powers and Cullen said they were unaware of the investigation or the officers' alleged misconduct, learning of the arrests in a phone call Tuesday morning from Flippo.

"This is not the kind of morning anyone expected," Powers said.

Cullen said he considers the arrests a "huge issue" but said he had no plans to resign for being unaware of the alleged misconduct and would not consider a resignation by Powers, who has been city manager for more than seven years.

Flippo said the case, and the FBI's involvement Tuesday morning, were unrelated to an investigation of the money from a bank robbery that went missing after it was recovered by King City police officers last year.

He stressed his office's investigation is ongoing and more charges and arrests could come. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call investigator Roy Diaz at 784-5648.

OFF THE WIREagingrebel.com
In the last week, the center of the global war on motorcycle clubs
has shifted to Canada and the prime target there is the Hells Angels.
Last week, the Department of Justice for the Canadian province of
Manitoba officially declared the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club to be a
“criminal organization.”

Manitoba
The declaration means that Manitoba prosecutors no longer have to
prove that the Hells Angels are an organized criminal entity in order to
enhance the sentences of club members found guilty of breaking the law.
Until now, prosecutors had to prove that an accused man was actually a
racketeer before sentencing him like one. Now in Manitoba, Hells Angels
are no longer presumed to be innocent. They are now presumed to be
racketeers.
Manitoba Justice Minister Andrew Swan called the abandonment of a
presumption of innocence “…a milestone for Canada and a clear signal
that Manitoba will continue to develop and use every tool available to
fight criminal organizations and the threat they pose to Manitobans. It
is now law in Manitoba the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a criminal
organization.”
“The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was actually given the opportunity
to come forward and present some evidence to suggest they were not a
criminal organization,” Swan told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “As I understand it, there was no response to that.”
A defense attorney named Jay Prober told the CBC he doesn’t
think the new declaration will make much difference in criminal cases.
“I don’t think it was necessary. It’s window dressing, but it makes good
politics and gets votes,” Prober said. “I doubt this piece of
legislation will withstand a constitutional challenge.”

Forfeiture
Where the new law will make a difference is in civil forfeiture
cases. What Manitoba police and prosecutors seem to be after is an
easier path to stealing the assets of Hells Angels charters and patch
holders. The new declaration will make it harder to fight forfeiture.
Yesterday Kim Bolan, the Vancouver Sun’s beat reporter
covering “gangs, terrorism, crime and justice,” wrote that Angels
charters in Canada had begun to liquidate their assets to avoid
forfeiture. Bolan quoted Detective Sergeant Len Isnor of the Ontario
Provincial Police Biker Enforcement Unit who heard it through the
grapevine that Canadian Angels are saying, “it’s not worth it and they
are selling their assets. It seems to be a new trend in Ontario.”
Sergeant Isnor told Bolan that Manitoba made the criminal declaration
because “They were tired of waiting for the federal government. The
courts are just bogged down…. We are proving water is wet over and over
again.”
Bolan also reported yesterday that the British Columbia Nomads recently sold their clubhouse for $2.175 million.
No corpus. No corpus delicti. No assets. No assets to forfeit.

OFF THE WIRE
Illinois State Police say they've launched a new website that publicizes
the application process for Illinoisans who want to carry concealed
weapons.(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) --
Illinois State Police say they're getting ready to issue the state's first concealed carry permits in the coming days.

Police spokeswoman Monique Bond tells The (Arlington Heights)
Daily Herald that the first licenses could be issued next week.
Authorities had said they hoped to issue the first permits in the
spring.
Illinois gun owners began applying for the permits in
January after the state became the last in the nation to allow people to
carry concealed guns. Police have been reviewing the applications.
By the end of January, more than 16,000 people had filed paperwork to
get a permit. State officials believe as many as 400,000 people will
apply for the concealed carry permits during the first year of the law.
NUFF SAID...

No law, state or federal, trumps the constitution and the rights outlined therein.
The Second Amendment is clear, concise, and no further explanation is given or necessary.

OFF THE WIRE
by Ben Bullard
The Supreme Court ruled today that police, without a warrant, may
legally enter and search a dwelling even over the vehement protestations
of an occupant, so long as a co-occupant grants them access.
That decision reverses a 2006 ruling, which held that the refusal of
even one occupant to allow a warrantless search was sufficient to keep
law enforcement from entering a home.
Today’s ruling in Fernandez v. California was handed down in a
6-3 opinion, led by Justice Samuel Alito writing for the majority. The
case involved an LAPD search of a house they believed harbored a robbery
suspect. The suspect, Walter Fernandez, wouldn’t let them inside the
house. But the police argued that Fernandez’ girlfriend, Roxanne Rojas,
looked sketchy enough to suggest a probable cause for domestic violence –
an unrelated charge. They went in and arrested Fernandez on the DV
charge, removed him from the home, and in the meantime sought and got
on-site permission from Rojas to search the home. That search produced
evidence that tied Fernandez to the robbery – the reason the police had
shown up in the first place.
Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito argued that Rojas’
permission carried equal weight (really, greater weight) with that of
Fernandez’ denial:

A warrantless consent search is reasonable and thus
consistent with the Fourth Amendment irrespective of the availability of
a warrant… Denying someone in Rojas’ position the right to allow the
police to enter her home would also show disrespect for her
independence.

Compare Alito’s words with those of retired Justice David Souter, who wrote the majority opinion for a similar case – with a very different outcome – in November of 2006:

The pragmatic decision to accept the simplicity of this
line is, moreover, supported by the substantial number of instances in
which suspects who are asked for permission to search actually consent,
albeit imprudently, a fact that undercuts any argument that the police
should try to locate a suspected inhabitant because his denial of
consent would be a foregone conclusion.
This case invites a straightforward application of the rule that a
physically present inhabitant’s express refusal of consent to a police
search is dispositive [that is, settled and absolute] as to him,
regardless of the consent of a fellow occupant.

It appears evident that the police got their man, and no one is
bemoaning a travesty of justice for a man whom evidence suggests had
committed a crime. But today’s ruling is a back-door way into people’s
homes – one without a guarantee that law enforcement will always be in
the right. It invites the police to escalate impromptu searches by
keeping them persistent at a dwelling until they get what they came for.
It creates an invitation to law enforcement to find someone – anyone –
living in a home whom they can convince to grant them access, after
first being explicitly refused access by another occupant.

Whereas Souter and the majority found, in 2006, that one refusal was
enough to force police to demonstrate probable cause to search a home,
Alito has invited the police to go fishing for the most gullible or
legally naive resident who might be found at the premises. All they need
is a “yes” – any “yes.”

by Gina Cassini | Top Right News
When Brandy Berning was pulled over in the state of Florida, the
first thing she thought to do was grab her cell phone and start the
recording. After the stories you hear in the media today regarding the
police state, Berning made a very wise choice.
However, the arresting officer did not see it that way. After Berning
informed the officer that she was recording their conversation, he
insisted that she had committed a felony.
At that time Broward Sheriff Deputy William O’Brien entered Berning’s
vehicle through the passenger door trying to confiscate her phone.
“I know the law better than you, believe me,” O’Brien says as Berning refuses to comply.
By the end of the altercation Brandy Berning was left with scrapes,
bruises and a strained wrist and brought to the jail where she was
forced to spend the night.
Berning has now filed suit against the Broward Sheriff’s Department.

OFF THE WIREGovernment does nothing to impede expansion of 'Soldiers of Allah' network..WASHINGTON
– A radical jihadist group responsible for nearly 50 attacks on
American soil is operating 35 terrorist training camps across the
nation, but the U.S. government refuses to include the organization on
the State Department’s list of foreign terrorists.
Jamaat ul-Fuqra, known in the U.S. as “Muslims of America,” has purchased or leased hundreds of acres of property – from New York to California – in which the leader, Sheikh Mubarak Gilani, boasts of conducting “the most advanced training courses in Islamic military warfare.”

In a recruitment video captured from Gilani’s “Soldiers of Allah,” he states in English: “We are fighting to destroy the enemy. We are dealing with evil at its roots and its roots are America.”

Though Gilani and his organization is suspected of committing assassinations and firebombings inside the U.S., and is also suspected of the beheading murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, the terrorist camps spread through the country continue to expand in numbers and population.

A documentary called “Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Training Camps Around the U.S.” provides compelling evidence of how “Muslims of America” operates with impunity inside the U.S. In the video, producers visited some camps, attempted to visit others and interviewed neighbors and local police officials. It also include excerpts of the “Muslims of America” recruitment video.

Get “Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Training Camps Around the U.S.” and share it with your neighbors, your local police officials and your representatives in Congress.

The recruitment video shows American converts to Islam being instructed in the operation of AK-47 rifles, rocket launchers and machine guns and C4 explosives. It provides instruction in how to kidnap Americans, kill them and how to conduct sabotage and subversive operations.

Jamaat ul-Fuqra’s attacks on American soil range from bombings to murder to plots to blow up U.S. landmarks. A 2006 Department of Justice report states Jamaat ul-Fuqra “has more than 35 suspected communes and more than 3,000 members spread across the United States, all in support of one goal: the purification of Islam through violence.” In 2005, the Department of Homeland Security predicted the group would continue to carry out attacks in the U.S.

“Act like you are his friend. Then kill him,” says Gilani in the recruitment video, explaining how to handle American “infidels.”

Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was attempting to interview Jamaat ul-Fuqra’s leader, Gilani, in 2002 when he was kidnapped and later beheaded. One year later, Iyman Faris, member of both Jamaat ul-Fuqra and al-Qaida, pleaded guilty in federal court to a plot to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge.

Gilani was at one time in Pakistani custody for the abduction of Pearl. Intelligence sources also suggest a link between Jamaat ul Fuqra and Richard Reid, the infamous “shoe bomber” who attempted to ignite explosives aboard a Paris-to-Miami passenger flight Dec. 22, 2001.

“What we are witnessing here is kind of a brand-new form of terrorism,” says FBI Special Agent Jody Weis in the documentary. “These home-grown terrorists can prove to be as dangerous as any known group, if not more so,”

As WND reported, a covert visit to a Jamaat ul-Fuqra encampment in upstate New York by the Northeast Intelligence Network found neighboring residents deeply concerned about military-style training taking place there but frustrated by the lack of attention from federal authorities.

Muslims of the Americas Inc., a tax-exempt organization, has been directly linked by court documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra. The organization operates communes of primarily black, American-born Muslims throughout the U.S. The investigation confirmed members commonly use aliases and intentional spelling variations of their names and routinely deny the existence of Jamaat ul-Fuqra.

The group openly recruits through various social service organizations in the U.S., including the prison system. Members live in compounds where they agree to abide by the laws of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, which are considered to be above local, state and federal authority.

U.S. authorities have probed the group for charges ranging from links to al-Qaida to laundering and funneling money into Pakistan for terrorist activities. The organization supports various terrorist groups operating in Pakistan and Kashmir, and Gilani himself is linked directly to Hamas and Hezbollah.

Gilani’s American headquarters is in Hancock, N.Y., where training is provided to recruits who are later sent to Pakistan for more jihadist paramilitary training, according to law enforcement authorities.

A Justice Department report to law enforcement agencies, prepared in 2006, provides a glimpse into how long Jamaat ul-Fuqra or “Muslims of America” has been operating inside the U.S.: “Over the past two decades, a terrorist group known as Jamaat ul-Fuqra, or ‘Community of the Impoverished,’ has been linked to multiple murders, bombings and various other felonies throughout the United States and Canada.”

Gilani’s “communes” are described by law enforcement as “classically structured terrorist cells.”

Seven of the compounds have been identified as training facilities: Marion, Alabama; Commerce, Georgia; Macon, Georgia; Talihina, Oklahoma; York County, South Carolina; Dover, Tennessee and Red House, Virginia. Other compounds are located in California, Colorado, Texas, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan and West Virginia.

You are now without excuse: See the terrorist training camps in the U.S. with your own eyes. See excerpts of the recruitment video by “Muslims of America” aka Jamaat ul-Fuqra. See “Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Training Camps Around the U.S.” with your own eyes.

Produced by PRB films, in association with The Christian Action Network.....

Scattered
across the United States, unknown to all but a handful of citizens, are
35 Islamic terrorist training compounds known as Muslims of America.
Under the leadership of a radical Pakistani cleric, Sheikh Mubarak
Gilani, Muslims of America has thousands of devoted followers who are
being groomed for HOMEGROWN JIHAD.

In never-before-seen video
footage, the Christian Action Network exposes these dangerous terrorist
compounds and reveals for the first time a secret training tape in which
American Muslims are recruited to join one of the most advanced
training courses in Islamic military warfare right here in America! They
are called Soldiers of Allah and they are trained in explosives,
kidnapping, murder, firing weapons, and guerilla warfare. They are told,
Act like you are a friend, then kill him just like from the book.

Jamaat
ul-Fuqra, known in the U.S. as “Muslims of America,” has purchased or
leased hundreds of acres of property – from New York to California – in
which the leader, Sheikh Mubarak Gilani, boasts of conducting “the most
advanced training courses in Islamic military warfare.”
In a recruitment video captured from Gilani’s “Soldiers of Allah,” he
states in English: “We are fighting to destroy the enemy. We are
dealing with evil at its roots and its roots are America.”
Though Gilani and his organization is suspected of committing
assassinations and firebombings inside the U.S., and is also suspected
of the beheading murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in
Pakistan, the terrorist camps spread through the country continue to
expand in numbers and population.
A documentary called “Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Training Camps Around the U.S.” provides
compelling evidence of how “Muslims of America” operates with impunity
inside the U.S. In the video, producers visited some camps, attempted to
visit others and interviewed neighbors and local police officials. It
also include excerpts of the “Muslims of America” recruitment video.
Get “Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Training Camps Around the U.S.” and
share it with your neighbors, your local police officials and your
representatives in Congress.
The recruitment video shows American converts to Islam being
instructed in the operation of AK-47 rifles, rocket launchers and
machine guns and C4 explosives. It provides instruction in how to kidnap
Americans, kill them and how to conduct sabotage and subversive
operations.
Jamaat ul-Fuqra’s attacks on American soil range from bombings to
murder to plots to blow up U.S. landmarks. A 2006 Department of Justice
report states Jamaat ul-Fuqra “has more than 35 suspected communes and
more than 3,000 members spread across the United States, all in support
of one goal: the purification of Islam through violence.” In 2005, the
Department of Homeland Security predicted the group would continue to
carry out attacks in the U.S.
“Act like you are his friend. Then kill him,” says Gilani in the
recruitment video, explaining how to handle American “infidels.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was attempting to interview
Jamaat ul-Fuqra’s leader, Gilani, in 2002 when he was kidnapped and
later beheaded. One year later, Iyman Faris, member of both Jamaat
ul-Fuqra and al-Qaida, pleaded guilty in federal court to a plot to blow
up the Brooklyn Bridge.
Gilani was at one time in Pakistani custody for the abduction of
Pearl. Intelligence sources also suggest a link between Jamaat ul Fuqra
and Richard Reid, the infamous “shoe bomber” who attempted to ignite
explosives aboard a Paris-to-Miami passenger flight Dec. 22, 2001.
“What we are witnessing here is kind of a brand-new form of
terrorism,” says FBI Special Agent Jody Weis in the documentary. “These
home-grown terrorists can prove to be as dangerous as any known group,
if not more so,”As WND reported, a
covert visit to a Jamaat ul-Fuqra encampment in upstate New York by the
Northeast Intelligence Network found neighboring residents deeply
concerned about military-style training taking place there but
frustrated by the lack of attention from federal authorities.

Muslims of the Americas Inc., a tax-exempt organization, has been
directly linked by court documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra. The organization
operates communes of primarily black, American-born Muslims throughout
the U.S. The investigation confirmed members commonly use aliases and
intentional spelling variations of their names and routinely deny the
existence of Jamaat ul-Fuqra.
The group openly recruits through various social service
organizations in the U.S., including the prison system. Members live in
compounds where they agree to abide by the laws of Jamaat ul-Fuqra,
which are considered to be above local, state and federal authority.
U.S. authorities have probed the group for charges ranging from links
to al-Qaida to laundering and funneling money into Pakistan for
terrorist activities. The organization supports various terrorist groups
operating in Pakistan and Kashmir, and Gilani himself is linked
directly to Hamas and Hezbollah.
Gilani’s American headquarters is in Hancock, N.Y., where training is
provided to recruits who are later sent to Pakistan for more jihadist
paramilitary training, according to law enforcement authorities.
A Justice Department report to law enforcement agencies, prepared in
2006, provides a glimpse into how long Jamaat ul-Fuqra or “Muslims of
America” has been operating inside the U.S.: “Over the past two decades,
a terrorist group known as Jamaat ul-Fuqra, or ‘Community of the
Impoverished,’ has been linked to multiple murders, bombings and various
other felonies throughout the United States and Canada.”
Gilani’s “communes” are described by law enforcement as “classically structured terrorist cells.”
Seven of the compounds have been identified as training facilities:
Marion, Alabama; Commerce, Georgia; Macon, Georgia; Talihina, Oklahoma;
York County, South Carolina; Dover, Tennessee and Red House, Virginia.
Other compounds are located in California, Colorado, Texas, Maryland,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan and West Virginia.You
are now without excuse: See the terrorist training camps in the U.S.
with your own eyes. See excerpts of the recruitment video by “Muslims of
America” aka Jamaat ul-Fuqra. See “Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Training
Camps Around the U.S.” with y

Jamaat ul-Fuqra, known in the U.S. as “Muslims of America,” has
purchased or leased hundreds of acres of property – from New York to
California – in which the leader, Sheikh Mubarak Gilani, boasts of
conducting “the most advanced training courses in Islamic military
warfare.”
In a recruitment video captured from Gilani’s “Soldiers of Allah,” he
states in English: “We are fighting to destroy the enemy. We are
dealing with evil at its roots and its roots are America.”
Though Gilani and his organization is suspected of committing
assassinations and firebombings inside the U.S., and is also suspected
of the beheading murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in
Pakistan, the terrorist camps spread through the country continue to
expand in numbers and population.
A documentary called “Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Training Camps Around the U.S.” provides
compelling evidence of how “Muslims of America” operates with impunity
inside the U.S. In the video, producers visited some camps, attempted to
visit others and interviewed neighbors and local police officials. It
also include excerpts of the “Muslims of America” recruitment video.
Get “Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Training Camps Around the U.S.” and
share it with your neighbors, your local police officials and your
representatives in Congress.
The recruitment video shows American converts to Islam being
instructed in the operation of AK-47 rifles, rocket launchers and
machine guns and C4 explosives. It provides instruction in how to kidnap
Americans, kill them and how to conduct sabotage and subversive
operations.
Jamaat ul-Fuqra’s attacks on American soil range from bombings to
murder to plots to blow up U.S. landmarks. A 2006 Department of Justice
report states Jamaat ul-Fuqra “has more than 35 suspected communes and
more than 3,000 members spread across the United States, all in support
of one goal: the purification of Islam through violence.” In 2005, the
Department of Homeland Security predicted the group would continue to
carry out attacks in the U.S.
“Act like you are his friend. Then kill him,” says Gilani in the
recruitment video, explaining how to handle American “infidels.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was attempting to interview
Jamaat ul-Fuqra’s leader, Gilani, in 2002 when he was kidnapped and
later beheaded. One year later, Iyman Faris, member of both Jamaat
ul-Fuqra and al-Qaida, pleaded guilty in federal court to a plot to blow
up the Brooklyn Bridge.
Gilani was at one time in Pakistani custody for the abduction of
Pearl. Intelligence sources also suggest a link between Jamaat ul Fuqra
and Richard Reid, the infamous “shoe bomber” who attempted to ignite
explosives aboard a Paris-to-Miami passenger flight Dec. 22, 2001.
“What we are witnessing here is kind of a brand-new form of
terrorism,” says FBI Special Agent Jody Weis in the documentary. “These
home-grown terrorists can prove to be as dangerous as any known group,
if not more so,”As WND reported, a
covert visit to a Jamaat ul-Fuqra encampment in upstate New York by the
Northeast Intelligence Network found neighboring residents deeply
concerned about military-style training taking place there but
frustrated by the lack of attention from federal authorities.

Muslims of the Americas Inc., a tax-exempt organization, has been
directly linked by court documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra. The organization
operates communes of primarily black, American-born Muslims throughout
the U.S. The investigation confirmed members commonly use aliases and
intentional spelling variations of their names and routinely deny the
existence of Jamaat ul-Fuqra.
The group openly recruits through various social service
organizations in the U.S., including the prison system. Members live in
compounds where they agree to abide by the laws of Jamaat ul-Fuqra,
which are considered to be above local, state and federal authority.
U.S. authorities have probed the group for charges ranging from links
to al-Qaida to laundering and funneling money into Pakistan for
terrorist activities. The organization supports various terrorist groups
operating in Pakistan and Kashmir, and Gilani himself is linked
directly to Hamas and Hezbollah.
Gilani’s American headquarters is in Hancock, N.Y., where training is
provided to recruits who are later sent to Pakistan for more jihadist
paramilitary training, according to law enforcement authorities.
A Justice Department report to law enforcement agencies, prepared in
2006, provides a glimpse into how long Jamaat ul-Fuqra or “Muslims of
America” has been operating inside the U.S.: “Over the past two decades,
a terrorist group known as Jamaat ul-Fuqra, or ‘Community of the
Impoverished,’ has been linked to multiple murders, bombings and various
other felonies throughout the United States and Canada.”
Gilani’s “communes” are described by law enforcement as “classically structured terrorist cells.”
Seven of the compounds have been identified as training facilities:
Marion, Alabama; Commerce, Georgia; Macon, Georgia; Talihina, Oklahoma;
York County, South Carolina; Dover, Tennessee and Red House, Virginia.
Other compounds are located in California, Colorado, Texas, Maryland,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan and West Virginia.You
are now without excuse: See the terrorist training camps in the U.S.
with your own eyes. See excerpts of the recruitment video by “Muslims of
America” aka Jamaat ul-Fuqra. See “Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Training
Camps Around the U.S.” with your own eyes.

WASHINGTON
– A radical jihadist group responsible for nearly 50 attacks on
American soil is operating 35 terrorist training camps across the
nation, but the U.S. government refuses to include the organization on
the State Department’s list of foreign terrorists.
Jamaat ul-Fuqra, known in the U.S. as “Muslims of America,” has
purchased or leased hundreds of acres of property – from New York to
California – in which the leader, Sheikh Mubarak Gilani, boasts of
conducting “the most advanced training courses in Islamic military
warfare.”
In a recruitment video captured from Gilani’s “Soldiers of Allah,” he
states in English: “We are fighting to destroy the enemy. We are
dealing with evil at its roots and its roots are America.”
Though Gilani and his organization is suspected of committing
assassinations and firebombings inside the U.S., and is also suspected
of the beheading murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in
Pakistan, the terrorist camps spread through the country continue to
expand in numbers and population.
A documentary called “Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Training Camps Around the U.S.” provides
compelling evidence of how “Muslims of America” operates with impunity
inside the U.S. In the video, producers visited some camps, attempted to
visit others and interviewed neighbors and local police officials. It
also include excerpts of the “Muslims of America” recruitment video.
Get “Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Training Camps Around the U.S.” and
share it with your neighbors, your local police officials and your
representatives in Congress.
The recruitment video shows American converts to Islam being
instructed in the operation of AK-47 rifles, rocket launchers and
machine guns and C4 explosives. It provides instruction in how to kidnap
Americans, kill them and how to conduct sabotage and subversive
operations.
Jamaat ul-Fuqra’s attacks on American soil range from bombings to
murder to plots to blow up U.S. landmarks. A 2006 Department of Justice
report states Jamaat ul-Fuqra “has more than 35 suspected communes and
more than 3,000 members spread across the United States, all in support
of one goal: the purification of Islam through violence.” In 2005, the
Department of Homeland Security predicted the group would continue to
carry out attacks in the U.S.
“Act like you are his friend. Then kill him,” says Gilani in the
recruitment video, explaining how to handle American “infidels.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was attempting to interview
Jamaat ul-Fuqra’s leader, Gilani, in 2002 when he was kidnapped and
later beheaded. One year later, Iyman Faris, member of both Jamaat
ul-Fuqra and al-Qaida, pleaded guilty in federal court to a plot to blow
up the Brooklyn Bridge.
Gilani was at one time in Pakistani custody for the abduction of
Pearl. Intelligence sources also suggest a link between Jamaat ul Fuqra
and Richard Reid, the infamous “shoe bomber” who attempted to ignite
explosives aboard a Paris-to-Miami passenger flight Dec. 22, 2001.
“What we are witnessing here is kind of a brand-new form of
terrorism,” says FBI Special Agent Jody Weis in the documentary. “These
home-grown terrorists can prove to be as dangerous as any known group,
if not more so,”As WND reported, a
covert visit to a Jamaat ul-Fuqra encampment in upstate New York by the
Northeast Intelligence Network found neighboring residents deeply
concerned about military-style training taking place there but
frustrated by the lack of attention from federal authorities.

Muslims of the Americas Inc., a tax-exempt organization, has been
directly linked by court documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra. The organization
operates communes of primarily black, American-born Muslims throughout
the U.S. The investigation confirmed members commonly use aliases and
intentional spelling variations of their names and routinely deny the
existence of Jamaat ul-Fuqra.
The group openly recruits through various social service
organizations in the U.S., including the prison system. Members live in
compounds where they agree to abide by the laws of Jamaat ul-Fuqra,
which are considered to be above local, state and federal authority.
U.S. authorities have probed the group for charges ranging from links
to al-Qaida to laundering and funneling money into Pakistan for
terrorist activities. The organization supports various terrorist groups
operating in Pakistan and Kashmir, and Gilani himself is linked
directly to Hamas and Hezbollah.
Gilani’s American headquarters is in Hancock, N.Y., where training is
provided to recruits who are later sent to Pakistan for more jihadist
paramilitary training, according to law enforcement authorities.
A Justice Department report to law enforcement agencies, prepared in
2006, provides a glimpse into how long Jamaat ul-Fuqra or “Muslims of
America” has been operating inside the U.S.: “Over the past two decades,
a terrorist group known as Jamaat ul-Fuqra, or ‘Community of the
Impoverished,’ has been linked to multiple murders, bombings and various
other felonies throughout the United States and Canada.”
Gilani’s “communes” are described by law enforcement as “classically structured terrorist cells.”
Seven of the compounds have been identified as training facilities:
Marion, Alabama; Commerce, Georgia; Macon, Georgia; Talihina, Oklahoma;
York County, South Carolina; Dover, Tennessee and Red House, Virginia.
Other compounds are located in California, Colorado, Texas, Maryland,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan and West Virginia.You
are now without excuse: See the terrorist training camps in the U.S.
with your own eyes. See excerpts of the recruitment video by “Muslims of
America” aka Jamaat ul-Fuqra. See “Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Training
Camps Around the U.S.” with your own eyes.

OFF THE WIREagingrebel.com
Anyone who has heard of Operation Fast and Furious understands how corrupt and half assed ATF investigations can be.
And anyone who is at all familiar with recent, major ATF
investigations of motorcycle clubs including Operation 22 Green,
Operation Black Biscuit, Operation Black Rain and last summer’s
Operation Pure Luck understands that all of those investigations were
half assed and corrupt in exactly the same ways. Obviously the key
qualifications to become an undercover agent provocateur for
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are stupidity
and psychopathy. In return for possessing these treasured qualities
successful candidates can expect to make about $180 thousand a year not
including what they steal.
ATF investigations are awe inspiringly expensive. Operation Black
Rain, for example, cost more than $100 million dispersed among the
budgets of multiple federal agencies and departments like the Marshals
Service, the Bureau of Prisons, the Federal Judicial Districts, the
Department of Homeland Security and multiple subsets of the Department
of Justice. The question nobody with a real, national voice has yet
thought to ask is how the ATF keeps getting away with it.

Why

Part of the answer is journalistic sloth and gutlessness. Most
reporters are terrified of motorcycle outlaws. It is the same reason
many reporters seem to think The Devils Ride is “real” or
“documentary.” Federal police agencies are adept at manipulating public
opinion in books and news and television accounts. Virtually everything
written or broadcast about these investigations has been written and
verified by federal police. And nobody in television, news or publishing
thinks there is anything amiss when the job of defining consensual
reality is left to policemen. Unfortunately, the propagandization of
journalism is the least disturbing and dangerous aspect of letting the
stupid thugs do whatever they want.
More dangerous is that the ATF and other high profile police
departments like the FBI are enabled, abetted and encouraged by both
federal prosecutors and judges. Prosecutors now routinely use various
unethical tactics to coerce defendants into plea deals. Defendants are
punished on the basis of accusations made by federal cops. Typically,
those defendants are kept locked up and threatened with mandatory,
decades long sentences until they confess. Judges endorse the plea
bargaining system because otherwise their courts would be swamped. The
official lie on which this system rests is the fantasy that policemen
tell the truth.
Judges can plausibly pretend to believe that but prosecutors know it
is a lie. Assistant United States Attorneys regularly employ strategies
and games to protect their symbiotic partners, the police. One thing
accomplished by the plea bargaining system is that trial jurors rarely
examine the evidence against defendants in context. Commonly defense
attorneys don’t see much of that evidence either. Federal prosecutors
routinely hide exculpatory evidence and when it must be turned over to
defenders it is frequently hidden in great avalanches of paper and DVDs
called “evidence dumps.”

Operation Pure Luck

No case epitomizes all of this more than the current federal prosecution that was born with Operation Pure Luck.
Pure Luck began in 2009, floundered for four years while its
participants desperately tried to entrap their wily and street smart
targets and finally concluded with a self-congratulatory press
conference at the end of June 2013. The investigation was aimed at
members of the Vagos Motorcycle Club. The ATF has been trying to pin
something on the Vagos since the late 90s. Shortly before the press
conference, police in Nevada, California, Utah, Arizona, Texas, New York
and Hawaii arrested members of the Bandidos, Chosen Few, Wicked Riderz
and Green Machine Motorcycle Clubs. Most of them faced state charges.
Three Vagos named Jeremy Halgat, Anthony McCall, and Robert Morrow were
indicted on federal charges of “Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to
Deliver a Controlled Substance” and “Using and Carrying a Firearm.”
The investigation was supervised by an ATF agent named Matt Wear and a
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer named David Arboreen.
Arboreen was assigned to the ATF as a Tactical Field Officer or TFO.
Other active participants assigned to the investigation included Los
Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Agostino Brancato; Montebello,
California Police Sergeant Christopher Cervantes and Montebello
Detective Ray Camuy.

The Dirty Duo

Brancato and Cervantes had previously worked for the ATF during
Operation Black Rain, the long infiltration of the Mongols Motorcycle
Club. Cervantes has been accused of impropriety during a shooting at
Nicola’s nightclub in Whittier. He participated in the two-years-long
debriefing of former Mongols President Ruben “Doc” Cavazos and he was
arrested in the middle of Operation Pure Luck, in July 2012 in San
Diego, on charges of public drunkenness and resisting arrest.
Brancato and Cervantes were introduced to the Vagos in Las Vegas by
an influential and well known Vago named Angel “Diablo” Ramirez. Ramirez
was a board member of the Southern Nevada Confederation of Clubs. In
that position, he lobbied against a Las Vegas bikers rights attorney
named Stephen “Bowtie” Stubbs. Brancato patched into the Vagos with
Ramirez assistance. The Aging Rebel believes but has been unable to confirm that Cervantes also became a full member of the Vagos Motorcycle Club.

Major Drug Deal

A year ago, on February 22, 2013 Brancato lured Halgat, McCall and
Morrow to his electronically surveilled residence and told the three
men, “I’ve got a $500,000 coke deal going on for my family. If I fuck it
up, they’ll kill me.” The three accused men were led to believe that
Brancato’s “family” was a Mexican drug cartel and they were enticed to
help keep their club brother alive. Brancato told the men that he had to
pick up a shipment of cocaine that would be flown in from Mexico and
then ensure the drugs trans-shipment to Georgia. Brancato told the men
all their lives would be endangered and urged them to bring firearms.
On March 2, the three accused men arrived at Brancato’s residence
with four firearms: An AK-47 look alike, a shotgun and two revolvers.
All of the guns were legally possessed and transported. Brancato then
drove the Vagos to an airstrip in Searchlight, Nevada. As the four men
watched, Camuy landed in a single engine Cessna aircraft and exited with
a blue duffel bag containing ten kilos of cocaine. While Halgat, Morrow
and McCall stood guard, Brancato loaded the cocaine into his car. The
government charges that Morrow and McCall helped Brancato wrap the
packages of cocaine with fabric softener sheets and load them in the
TFOs car. Then Brancato paid each of the three men $1,000, which is the
long established rate for providing security at bogus ATF drug deals.

Brancato

The bogus drug deal was Brancato’s one bright and shining moment
during Operation Pure Luck. According to multiple informed sources
providing “deep background” on the case, Brancato, Cervantes and Ramirez
all committed multiple crimes during the investigation in hopes of
inspiring other members of the Vagos to commit similar crimes. In one
instance, Brancato, wearing a recording device hidden in a key fob,
tried to convince a high ranking Vago to sell him drugs. In an incident
that echoes similar entrapments during Operation Black Biscuit,
Brancato’s device continued to record while he telephoned Wear.
“You fucked that up,” Wear reproached the TFO. “Now he can prove entrapment.”
“I don’t care,” Brancato brazened. “Maniak sold me the shit.”
“But he didn’t,” Wear replied, displaying unusual honesty for an ATF agent. “Because you fucked up.”

Games Prosecutors Play

Sources with knowledge of the case also describe the Reports of
Investigation or ROIs written by Brancato and Cervantes as being riddled
with lies. It is customary in ATF undercover investigations to write
ROIs well after the incidents they describe and for those reports to
fabricate events and conversations. ROIs are almost never compared to
the electronic surveillance that could either prove or disprove their
veracity. The reports are, however, considered by grand jurors and
judges to be unimpeachable proof.
In questionable investigations, prosecutors inevitably refuse to
“discover” evidence that could undermine their cases: For example the
audio and video recordings that could substantiate or disprove the
investigative reports in Pure Luck. The case that resulted from
Operation Black Biscuit was very diminished when prosecutors refused to
turn over evidence to defense attorneys that might have proven that the
agents and informants involved – the most well known of whom was best
selling author and national treasure Jay Dobyns – lied, entrapped, broke
laws, consumed drugs, enjoyed extramarital sex with one another and
generally partied like rock stars.
The Pure Luck case echoes Black Biscuit. In the last six months
defense attorneys have tried to exclude “transcripts of recordings due
to inaudibility and unreliability;” have sought to examine the personnel
files of Brancato, Cervantes and other ATF employees assigned to the
case; have filed multiple motions and sent dozens of less formal emails
in an attempt to inspect the evidence against their clients; filed an
“Emergency Motion To (1) Compel… Discovery and Brady, Giglio And
Jencks…Materials The Government Refuses To Disclose, (2) For The
Production Of The Undercover And Confidential Informant Cell Phones For
Expert Inspection And (3) Request For Exclusionary Sanctions;” and have
filed motions to compel the discovery of surveillance logs and other
materials that would support the government’s ROIs. The government has
also formally moved to forbid defenders from using the entrapment
defense.
Prosecutors are stonewalling which is why the trial has already been
delayed several times. It is now scheduled to begin on May 13 which
gives prosecutors another three months to intimidate the defendants into
taking plea deals. It is an interesting game of chicken. If the
defendants can be enticed to cop a plea, as they were once enticed break
two laws, the government can sweep all of this mess under a rug.

OFF THE WIRE
The U.N. never stops its attacks on Israel, or the United States.
Did you know that last week a U.N. body canceled an exhibit showing 3,500 years of Jewish history in the Holy Land?
Did you know that same U.N. body canceled the exhibition at the request of radical jihadist activists?
And did you know that the United States gives more money every year to the U.N. than 180 other countries combined?
It’s time we stopped funding hate. It’s time we stopped funding lies. Our offices worldwide are mobilized to defend the truth.

Petition to Stop Funding the Anti-American and Anti-Israel U.N.

President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry,

American taxpayers must not subsidize anti-Semitism. The U.N. works
against America and our closest ally, Israel. Stop funding the United
Nations.